The present invention relates generally to game devices, and more particularly to a novel simulated basketball game adapted to be played by two players each of whom controls offensive ball propelling means and a defensive player-figure selectively operable to block the opponent's shots.
Game devices are generally known which simulate the game of basketball and which enable two or more players to selectively mechanically propel a simulated basketball toward a selected one of two baskets supported at opposite ends of a play surface. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 943,472, 1,116,593, 1,827,885, 2,522,782, 3,781,010, 3,811,674, 3,901,508 and 4,239,218. A variation or alternative basketball type game employs what is generally termed a half-court playing surface and includes a defensive player-figure which is operable to attempt blocking of an opponent's shot. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,431,552, 2,433,224, and 3,592,470.
A significant drawback in the prior simulated basketball games which employ a basket at each end of a play surface is that while the player opponents can each play an offensive game, they cannot inhibit play of the opponent through defensive maneuvers. Another disadvantage lies in the rather complex mechanisms employed for propelling ball toward opponent's basket or, in the case of half-court games, the mechanisms employed to actuate a defensive player-figure to attempt blocking of an opponent's shot. For the most part, where the prior game devices employ play surfaces defining a plurality of positions from which a game ball may be propelled or shot toward an opponent's basket, the player must quickly shift or transfer his hands between various ball propelling controls. Another drawback in the half-court games is that the defensive player-figures may be maintained in defensive or blocking positions for indefinite periods, thus reducing the skill level required by eliminating the need to precisely coordinate actuation of a defensive player-figure to a blocking position with the opponent's shot.